Tiger Population Increases in India

The population of endangered tigers in India has increased by 12 percent, according to the country’s environment minister.

The minister says that although the tiger population has increased, their available habitat has decreased.

[Jairam Ramesh, Environment Minister]:
"We used to say that in India there are only 1,411 tigers but we have estimated that the number of tigers in 2010 is 1,636. It is an increase of 12 percent. This is positive information. But the worrying trend is that the area of tiger occupancy has been reduced, especially in central India.”

He also cautioned that poachers and projects near forests are the greatest threats to the animal.

[Jairam Ramesh, Environment Minister]:
"The danger today is big projects that are being implemented (around the forest area). Coal mining is going on, real estate mafia has come, mining mafia are there. We will have to fight them. We are only after the poachers, which we will succeed in.”

Forest officials used hidden cameras and DNA tests to count the big cats across 19 Indian states.

The census added 70 tigers in the eastern Indian Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.

In 2007, there were just over 1,400 tigers, a sharp fall from about 3,600 five years ago.